Sci-Fi Comedy With X-Files Star Will Make You Doubt The Concept Of Intelligent Life
If you, like Special Agent Fox Mulder, “want to believe” in intelligent life in a sci-fi comedy, then it may be in your best interest to avoid watching 2001’s Evolution, starring David Duchovny. However, intelligent life isn’t exactly what you want to see in this kind of movie because most of its humor comes from misguided decisions made by high-ranking government officials who aren’t very good at their jobs.
For a slap-stick comedy about a rapidly evolving life form that wants to take over the planet and eradicate humanity as we know it, Evolution is a little bit Ghostbusters with a hint of The X-Files that leans into the kind of humor you’d find in an American Pie movie.
American Pie Meets X-Files
Evolution begins with Seann William Scott’s Wayne Grey, an aspiring firefighter who witnesses a meteor impact in the middle of the Arizona desert. When half-assed Glen Canyon Community College science professor Dr. Ira Kane (David Duchovny) and his adjunct professor colleague Professor Harry Phineas Block (Orlando Jones) investigate ground zero, they have reason to believe that the meteor is harboring extra-terrestrial life that evolves at an alarming rate. They take their findings back to the science lab at their school, but their discovery is stolen from underneath them when the U.S. Army gets involved and seals off the site.
Not Exactly A Rom-Com
Desperate to continue with their research against the government’s wishes in Evolution, Ira and Harry sneak onto their compound disguised as high-ranking officers, and run into yet another complication. Julianne Moore’s Dr. Allison Reed, a senior researcher for the CDC, doesn’t want the community college professors meddling in what is now a top-secret operation. David Duchovny and Julianne Moore have the kind of chemistry that’s adversarial at first, but hints at a budding romance once things begin to heat up.
C’s Get Degrees
Once it’s revealed that the alien life form in Evolution is growing at an exponential rate that can no longer be contained by the government, Brigadier General Russel Woodman (Ted Levine) suggests bombing the site with napalm after securing Governor Lewis’ (Dan Aykroyd) blessing to do so.
Back at Glen Canyon Community college, Ira discovers that evolution occurs when the life form is near a source of heat, meaning that David Duchovny has to do what he does best at this point in his career: break every rule of protocol so he can mess with some aliens before the government screws everything up.
Disillusioned by the Army’s mishandling of the entire operation, Dr. Allison Reed joins forces with Ira, Harry, and Wayne, and they come up with a plan inspired by Ira’s two worst students, Deke (Ethan Suplee) and Danny Donald (Michael Bower).
Ditch The Musical Montage
Evolution plays out like your typical early 2000s sci-fi summer blockbuster, and has a healthy amount of cringe that will either be a complete turnoff or keep you fully engaged. I hit my breaking point when David Duchovny, Seann William Scott, and Orlando Jones piled into Ira’s Jeep and sang along to “Play That Funky Music” on their way to the crash site because it dawned on me that in some way, shape, or form, this was Duchovny’s way of trying to make a character archetype that closely resembles Fox Mulder from an alternate universe that’s cool and not a total nerd.
However, as our unlikely group of heroes figure out how to save the day through a process that I would consider to be egregiously invasive, the film concludes in a hilarious way that makes you forgive some of its creative missteps along the way.
Watch Evolution Before The Aliens Take Over
REVIEW SCORE
David Duchovny was cast perfectly as Dr. Ira Kane in Evolution because he was trying to break away from serious sci-fi and wanted to take a shot at a more comedic role. Though his character in Evolution isn’t exactly a far cry from his portrayal of Fox Mulder, it’s a strong enough departure from what he did in The X-Files so I have to give him credit where it’s due.
If you’re a fan of The X–Files but don’t want to take things so seriously, then you’ll want to give this movie a shot because it’s so self-aware of its own stupidity that it’s actually kind of smart.
As of this writing, you can stream Evolution for free on Pluto TV, or rent the title on-demand through Apple TV+, Fandango At Home, and Amazon Prime Video.
